Whatever Souls Are Made Of
by Keirra
Summary: Drabble collection of soulmate stories, with varying ships and AU rules. First story: Shikamru was relieved when his birthday both came and went without his eyes changing. The next morning however was a different story. ShikaIno
1. AU: The Love In Your Eyes

A/N Okay here we go! New writing project! New fandom! If you follow me and clicked on this without noticing this is not Harry Potter or One Piece, I am sorry I haven't updated those in ages, but I promise nothing is on a permanent hiatus and I do intend on finishing both The Beginning with You and What He Doesn't Know, though I might need to rewrite a bit of them first. But for now, I am neck deep in ninja feels and in no good mental shape to write in either of those universes.

This project is going to be a series of drabbles, featuring some well known ships and some very crack ones, surrounding some of my favorite SoulMate AU ideas. I am fairly open to all ships and will take suggestions for ships to write, but I do not make any guarantee they will be done. For each AU I will write a description of the rules I am establishing for it, and at the same time post at least one drabble to go with it. Some AUs may get more than one drabble, some may only get the initial one. It all depends on how inspired I am by the idea. I plan on naming each AU, and will label the drabble so you can see which rules it follows.

I hope that makes sense, if it doesn't let me know and I'll elaborate! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

soulmate AU 1

The Love In Your Eyes

There are a few things in life that are universal. Some universal facts are morbid, like how everyone eventually dies or how everyone experiences loss and pain. Some are nice, pleasant things, like how a smile means the same thing no matter your background. But the most common universal rule in the world was a bit more physical.

Everyone's eyes are a hazy gray/white when they are born and they stay that way until their 18th birthday. Then a still unexplained phenomenon happens. Their eyes change color, turning whatever the current shade of their fated lover's hair is. The connection is so strong even dying one's hair an unnatural color will change their lover's eyes. There are many theories and myths surrounding this strange occurrence, none that can be proven, but the popular theory is that in a time so long ago it was forgotten, some force (divine or manmade, the argument is never ending) split every soul in twine and scattered them across the lands. But things that are meant to be together tend to find a way, and this odd quirk of color was the soul's way of telling you who it was aching for. Of leading you to your soulmate.

This of course led to many customs and traditions surrounding the event of an 18th birthday. It was common for teens approaching the date to dye their hair drastic colors, hoping to make it unmistakable to their soulmate who they are. Many sat in front of a mirror as the stroke of midnight fell, hoping to see the change firsthand. Others slept through the night only to wake and not recognize the eyes staring back at them. Some eyes don't change that first night, waiting for the day their mate would also turn 18. Some eyes never change, whether their mate suffered an untimely death, or some believe they have no mate (which has led to many discussions and theories of "can a soul die?" and "is it possible to sever the bond of soulmates?" which of course no one can prove conclusively).

In a world of unrest and violence, shinobi are more inclined to believe it means their mate has died like so many others but not everyone is so unlucky. Some are blessed enough to find themselves watching their eyes change, slowly filling in with colors of black, brown, gold, and other more exotic shades. Some are blessed enough to run into an old friend the next day, trying not to obviously check their new eye color against every head of hair passing by, to find their friend's is a perfect match.


	2. Destiny Is A Troublesome Thing

AU: The Love In Your Eyes

Story title: Destiny Is A Troublesome Thing

Ship: ShikaIno

* * *

When Shikamaru woke up on his 18th birthday, not as many people did at midnight but closer to noon, he was actually excited, and more than just a bit relieved, that his eyes were still the silvery gray they had been since the day he was born. His mother was upset, for all of five minutes, before proclaiming that his soulmate must be younger than him and any day now his eyes would change. His father had nodded at him, returning his smile with a look that showed he knew exactly how his son felt about the lack of change.

Ino didn't understand his lack of disappointment, but then she was rather preoccupied with her own upcoming birthday. Choji understood why he wasn't bothered by it, but then his eyes had almost glowed red since his birthday, a color that didn't match anyone in Konoha's hair. He knew first hand that sometimes it was more trouble to have them change than just staying the same and Choji knew Shikamaru better than anyone. Whatever color his eyes changed to, he knew his unmotivated friend would have found it far too much effort to deal with.

As far as Shikamaru was concerned, he was more than happy with the arrangement. He had always wanted a nice normal woman, for a nice normal life and he was okay with that not happening for a few years yet.

The next morning he rolled out of bed with a groan, yawned widely and stumbled towards the bathroom. He turned on the water without glancing up and splashed water on his face.

"Shikamaru that better be you getting up I hear!" His mother called, breaking the peaceful silence of his morning, "we are going to be late for Ino's birthday brunch if you don't get to it!"

Their families had a long standing tradition for their children's birthday, lunch for Choji's, dinner for Shikdamaru's and brunch for Ino's. He never really understood why they couldn't just combine his and Ino's parties, they were technically less than a day apart. Having two large gatherings back to back like this was…

"Troublesome," he muttered under his breast as he patted his face dry with a towel. He sighed heavily, there was no way this brunch was going to be peaceful. Gatherings between the Akimichi's, Nara's and Yamanaka's was always a high spirited and rowdy event, enough that just thinking about it made Shikamaru tired. Knowing he has just experienced that last night and was still expected to do it again made his shoulders sag a little before he opened his eyes to fully bask in his misery.

He froze, dropping the damp towel onto his toes.

Almost unconsciously his hand moved, fingers brushing against the mirror, touching the reflection of his eyes.

Yesterday it had felt like his prayers had been answered, no troublesome soulmate coming into his carefully planned life and mixing things up. No irksome fate thinking it knew what was better for him than he did.

But this.

This was even more troublesome than he had feared.

He knew there had to be thousands upon thousands of people that could have been born today, any number of them could have been his soulmate.

But only one that he knew personally had hair like this, hair that would match the now pale gold eyes staring back at him from the mirror.

* * *

When the Naras entered the dining room at the Yamanaka house hold they were immediately besieged by the birthday girl herself, wearing a new purple dress and smilingly brightly. Her blonde hair was out of its traditional pony tail and instead curled prettily around her face and down her back leaving both eyes unusually visible. Around her neck was a silver necklace, a pendent made of purple stone resting just past her collar bone.

But none of those things, these changes from the norm, were are stark or remarkable as her eyes.

Just as Shikamaru had expected they had changed but never in his wildest dreams would it have suited her so well. The shade was so dark that it should have been at odds with her bright coloring but instead seemed to reflect the light of the room, sparkling like stars in the night sky against their new, inky black color.

If he was a man inclined to romantic thoughts he would swear he had felt his heart skip a beat. As it was he had to mentally remind himself not to gape at her and drag his eyes away to greet her parents.

He was also now doubly thankful for the dark, Aburame-esque, sunglasses he had found to cover his own eyes. Not even his mother knew his eyes were no long the silvery gray they had been yesterday. His father was another story. Even though he felt there was no possible way he could possibly know, Shikamaru had to grudgingly admit that his father was always a good step or two ahead of him.

If he did know, he hadn't said anything. Whether that was to avoid the trouble that revelation could cause, or because he preferred to simply observe the situation at hand, he didn't know but he was grateful.

He was pulled from his musing by a finger poking the side of his head.

"What's with the shades Shikamaru?" Ino asked with a little laugh that made something in his gut tighten, "trying to switch clans are you?"

Shikamaru twisted his lips into a scowl, pulling away from her hand, "I have a massive migraine if you must know."

She frowned at him but it didn't diminish the cheer in her eyes, "poor baby, where you so upset about your eyes you drank too much last night? I knew you cared about it."

He sighed, brushing past her to follow their parents towards the table, and said "as if, caring would just be troublesome."

After helping set the table Shikamaru took his regular place next to Choji and had to bite back a sigh as Ino sat directly across from him.

Thankfully Ino loved being the center of attention and no one seemed to notice his inattention to the conversation. It gave him some much needed time to think.

How was this possible? All he had ever wanted was a nice, unremarkable, simple life, with an unremarkable and simple woman, where he could be lazy and happy for the rest of his days. In truth his life hadn't been near as peaceful or lazy as he would have liked since he graduated from the Academy. Really this was par for the course for him. This all made a sort of twisted, troublesome sense. Which he supposed was the point, fate being what it was and all.

Throughout the meal Shikamaru was both super aware of everything she did, even when he was trying his hardest not to be, and of the increasingly suspicious looks Choji kept shooting him. If his best friend hadn't figured it out by now, he knew he would drag it out of him at the earliest possible moment. Choji was a generally lad back person, one had to be if they were going to be best friends with a Nara, but when he wanted answers he knew all the right buttons to press to get them.

Today was turning out to be very troublesome indeed.

* * *

After brunch the younger Ino-Shika-Cho trio left the Yamanaka house, flowers in hand, and headed towards the cemetery. They had agreed beforehand that today they would all visit Asuma-Sensei together. They had a tradition of visiting whenever something big happened, and all three of his students being 18 was more than big enough to warrant it.

Shikamaru's mind still wasn't completely into it, instead as Ino and Choji caught Asuma up on the newest happenings in the village, he found himself imagining what the man's reaction to his predicament would be.

He could almost see it, Asuma standing in front of him, flashing him that smile and blowing out a puff of smoke before telling him exactly what needed to be done in that blunt way of his. "Just get it over with," he would say with a chuckle, "the longer you make her wait the more upset she will be and then you will really have a migraine."

It had been over two years since Asuma died and he could still hear his voice perfectly in his mind. And damnit if the man wasn't right. The longer he kept this from Ino the more she was going to fuss over it when she did find out. Short of abandoning the village and living his life a hermit missing-nin there was no way to keep this from her for long.

He had finally decided that just telling her would be the easiest way to deal with this, since becoming a missin-nin would be more trouble than it was worth, when Choji stood up suddenly.

"I forgot," he said with a very suspect smile, "I promised to help Kiba with something today so I'll see you guys later! Happy birthday Ino!"

Their own goodbyes were just barely out of their mouth as he disappeared.

And then Shikamaru found himself alone with Ino.

His soulmate.

Who didn't know they were soulmates.

His soulmate who might just kill him for keeping that a secret any longer than he already had.

He looked around, noting the other people in the vicinity and suddenly felt like this was a revelation best done in private.

Without a word he grabbed Ino's hand and started pulling her towards the woods that surrounded the cemetery.

"Shikamaru!" She said, her voice taking on that almost shrill quality it did when she was upset. When did that stop annoying him? A year ago? Maybe more?

"We need to talk," he said simply, still pulling her along.

Once they hit the tree line however she pulled her hand out of his.

"I don't have time for this, I have a hair appointment in less than an hour and I still need to swing by Sakura's house so she can help me choose a color."

He turned to stare at her, "what? Color?"

She sighed, "oh Shikamaru, just because it doesn't bother you that you don't know who your soulmate is doesn't meant I want to wait around for mine to find me. There are hundreds of guys in Konoha alone with black hair so my best bet is to dye my hair purple, or burgundy or something so it will stand out."

Shikamaru cocked his head to the side, "your hair is blonde. You don't think gold eyes will stand out?"

"That's not the point," she said with a shake of her head and still blonde hair, "if I change it not only will it be more noticeable, but it will also send him a message that I am looking for him when he wakes up today with gold eyes and tomorrow with purple.'

Suddenly assaulted with an image of his reflection, but with purple eyes and not the pale gold he was actually starting to feel quite fond of, he knew he had to stop her. Plus she would never forgive him if he let her waste money changing her hair when he already knew they were mates.

Unaware she had continued talking while he thought, he finally tuned back in to catch her saying, "whatever it is we can talk later," and turning away to leave.

"Wait," he said, hand out to grab her hand again, "don't bother dying your hair."

Ino turned to look at him, lifting an eyebrow in question. "And why not?

"Because it would be troublesome and a waste of time."

Her eyes narrowed at him, and she folded her arms across her chest, "excuse me? What the hell Shikamaru? Maybe not knowing is all fine and dandy for you, but some of us actually care about knowing our soulmates and want to meet them and be happy. We can't all be like you and not care about anything other than taking naps and watching the clouds you know?"

He sighs and can't help the small smile his lips have curled into. She is actually pretty cute when she's mad, with her dark eyes narrowed and that flush across her cheeks.

She opens her mouth, surely to continue her angry ranting at him, but he cut her off.

"That isn't exactly true you know."

Whatever she thought he would say in his defense, it obviously wasn't that. The surprise and confusion on her face was evident.

"What do you mean?" She asked after a moment.

Without a word Shikamaru reached up and pulled the glasses off. He watched with great amusement as the mixture of confusion, surprise and still lingering anger on her face melted away and her features went slack with astonishment.

He opened his mouth to tell her that gaping like was a good way to catch flies, but was interrupted by her. Shaking off her surprise faster than he expected she had closed the gap between them, grabbed the material of his shirt in both hands and pulled him towards her and into a kiss.

His hands find the curve of her waist, pulling her closer, as his mouth moved against hers in their first, of hopefully many, kisses. When the need for air demanded it she pulled away, leaning her forehead against his, eyes still closed.

"So," she said after a moment to catch her breath, "were you terribly disappointed?"

Shikamaru laughed, one of his hands moving to cup the side of her face.

"No," he said softly, "I think I always wanted it to be you."

She smiled, eyes opening to gaze at him with the poof of their connection.

"I did too."

* * *

As they walked home that afternoon, hand in hand and Shikamaru's sunglasses perches atop Ino's head, several people noticed the way their eyes matched the other's hair but no one took more notice than the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Choza laughed, though his amusement was more at the look on Inoichi's face than anything else. Shikaku's only reaction was to smile and hold his hand out to his blonde teammate.

"Pay up."

Inoichi stared at him before sighing heavily and counting out the bills he owed.

"What I want to know," he said as he passed the bills to the Nara, "is how you could have possibly known this when they were 5."

Shikaku shrugged, "something are just obvious."


End file.
